File:THE FEAST OF LANTERNS. (1910) - illustration - page 301.png

English: Illustration from page 301 of THE FEAST OF LANTERNS..
Caption: "THE FEAST OF LANTERNS. Quote: About this time, midsummer presents are exchanged between friends and relatives; but the most important occurrence in the middle of the month is the Feast of Lanterns. On the thirteenth, preparations are made for welcoming the spirits of the dead. The family tomb is visited and washed, while at home the shrine is decorated with festoons of vermicelli, to which are attached ears of Italian millet and panicum frumentaceum, dried persimmons, and the fruit of the torreya nucifera, and the lower part of the shrine is enclosed with a little fence of cryptomeria. In the evening, hemp-reeds are burnt in an earthen pan in front of the porch to receive the spirits who are then believed to enter the dwelling. On the fourteenth, offerings are made at the shrine and a priest is often called in to recite prayers. On the evening of the fifteenth when the spirits conclude their visit, the hemp-reeds are again burnt to speed them; people light their pipes at the fire and smoke as a charm against diseases of the mouth and step over the embers to secure themselves against all ailments in the lower parts of the body."